


The Animus

by SkipBack



Series: WINGS OF FIRE: DAWN OF TRUTH [4]
Category: Wings of Fire - Tui T. Sutherland
Genre: Cannibalistic Dragons, FanWing Character (HiveWing), FanWing Character (Hybrid), FanWing Character (MudWing), FanWing Character (NightWing), FanWing Character (SilkWing), Future Pantala, Future Pyrrhia, Original Characters - Freeform, Talons of Legend, am i rating this right, full of headcanons, i hope so
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-01-29
Updated: 2020-01-29
Packaged: 2021-02-27 15:15:42
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,085
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22465519
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SkipBack/pseuds/SkipBack
Summary: Darkspot has never really known what the Talons of Legend's true intentions and plans are, as he's really never paid attention. When he finds out, Darkspot begins to question the Talons and starts planning to leave.But can he truly escape from the evil he helped create?The Wings of Fire: Dawn Of Truth series are stories taking place in the world based off the original WoF series by Tui. T Sutherland.
Series: WINGS OF FIRE: DAWN OF TRUTH [4]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1613620
Kudos: 1





	The Animus

**Author's Note:**

> **WARNING!**
> 
> THE AUTHOR DOES NOT JUSTIFY OR CONDONE THE ACTIONS OF ANY OF THE CHARACTERS IN THE DAWN OF TRUTH SERIES, AND MAY NOT BE FOR EVERY READER! 
> 
> BY CONTINUING TO READ THIS DAWN OF TRUTH PART, YOU ARE AGREEING THAT YOU ARE WILLING TO READ SUCH CONTENT AND THE AUTHOR IS NOT AT FAULT FOR YOUR DECISION!
> 
> IF YOU DO NOT LIKE THIS STORY, YOU HAVE PERMISSION TO STOP READING IMMEDIATELY! HOWEVER, THE AUTHOR CAN AND WILL DELETE ANY COMMENTS DEEMED AS HATEFUL TOWARDS HER, AND THE DAWN OF TRUTH SERIES ITSELF!
> 
> **YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED.**

_Animus Magic._

_Centuries ago, when it was made aware to Pyrrhia that Pantala existed, animus magic supposedly stopped working. The reason as to why seems to have been forgotten, but animus magic seemed to start working again a decade after the final Dragonet of Destiny, Sunny, died._

Darkspot had lost count as to how many times he had read that. It was something that he had read so many times that it was drilled into his brain at this point, and if asked, he could probably recite it word for word. 

It was interesting to know that animus magic had stopped working at one point in time. Reading old stories about dragons losing their minds and killing other dragons due to overuse of their powers, and the legend of Darkstalker... _both_ legends... sometimes it made him wish that animus magic had never returned in the first place. 

He'd been good at keeping his power a secret from most dragons... though one dragon had figured out his secret, and was constantly threatening him that she would reveal it. 

"I wouldn't say that I'm _threatening_ you," a smooth voice said behind him, and he almost jumped out of his skin. "I would say I'm blackmailing you." 

Darkspot whirled around, throwing a shield around his thoughts as he came face to face with Ravenheart... leader of the Talons of Legend. 

"Oh, did I invade your personal thoughts again? My, my, what _terrible_ manners I have." Ravenheart stalked up to Darkspot, the silver teardrop scales by her eyes glittering. "Sparrow noticed you've forgotten to eat again. I'd thought that I would, out of the kindness of my heart, I would bring you something." 

She reached into the satchel around her chest and threw some mystery meat onto the desk behind him. It landed on the table with an uncomfortable _SPLAT_! "I hope you enjoy," Ravenheart said coolly, and then she was gone. 

Darkspot sighed. Ravenheart was an odd dragon, though she didn't used to be. She made herself out to be nice, but she often carried out random attacks on towns. Plus, she wouldn't tell him exactly what this mystery meat was, and he was getting a little frustrated with her. 

All she would say is that he knew already, when he clearly didn't. 

_Wait... what if I enchanted something to tell me?_

He was officially stupid. How come he never thought of that before? 

No, wait... he had thought of that. He'd been hoping Ravenheart would eventually crack and tell him, as he hadn't thought it would come down to him actually doing it. 

Apparently, it had finally come down to enchanting something to tell him what the mystery meat was. 

Darkspot looked around for a scroll his office. He clutched it to his chest, whispering to it, " _I enchant this scroll to tell me what kind of meat Ravenheart has brought me when it touches the paper_." 

Darkspot placed the scroll on his desk, and put the mystery meat on the paper. Suddenly, jagged writing in red ink appeared on the scroll, and his heart dropped in his stomach when he read the words. 

It said, _dragon meat_. 

Darkspot rolled up the scroll, and set it on fire. He never wanted to see it again, he'd never wanted to read those words in the first place. They'd been eating this kind of meat ever since Little Rattlesnake had been attacked... that was almost two years ago now. 

He'd been eating dragon meat for _two years_?! 

He took a deep breath, quickly collecting himself. All those years ago, when he and Ravenheart had originally formed the Talons of Legend. She'd quickly taken over the role of leader, and Darkspot had let her, seeing as he was so terrified of being in charge. 

But it surprised him that she'd decided to turn the Talons of Legend into cannibals. And they were okay with eating other dragons? 

_I'm in a group of sickos_ , he thought. He had to get out of here. Ravenheart would certainly notice if he went missing... but still he had to. Darkspot did not want to continue eating other dragons. He _refused_ to. 

He had to plan to get away. And the difficult thing was planning his escape without using his animus magic. 

But how? 

♦ ♦ ♦ 

The plan had went smoothly at the start. 

Somehow, Darkspot had managed to slip out of the Talons of Legend hideout without a single Talon spotting him. 

Now a group of dragons lead by Ravenheart where on his tail, and he was flying as fast as he could to not get caught. 

How had they figured out his plan? He didn't know how; he had been being so _careful_ as to not let anyone find out? 

Darkspot turned his head to look behind him — big mistake. He yelped at the sight of a huge SkyWing just inches away from his tail, the light of the moons bouncing off her scales. 

The SkyWing barreled into him. Darkspot roared as the sky dragon raked her claws through the membrane of his wings. He began to fall to the ground, while the SkyWing beat her wings to stay in the air, terribly high up in the night sky. 

Darkspot felt terror crashing through his body, but he suddenly felt very elated and triumphant. _If I'm dead, no one can use my magic!_ he cheered. 

But Ravenheart seemed to realize this as well (or maybe his thoughts were a little too loud). 

"We need him alive!" she screeched. 

Two SeaWings, one dark blue and the other light green, and the SkyWing folded their wings in and dove towards him, their talons outstretched. 

_NO!_

Heat boiled in his stomach, and blue flames shot out of his mouth. Both SeaWings and the SkyWing screamed, throwing out their wings to avoid his odd dragonbreath. 

A MudWing shot through the flame unscathed, his eyes locked on him. Darkspot's heart dropped as he recognized the MudWing. 

It was Sparrow. 

The MudWing wrapped his arms around Darkspot and threw out his wings. Darkspot stuggled, but Sparrow was by far way too strong. 

Ravenheart had a smug look in her silver eyes as she joined them. "Well, well, well," she said. "Thought you could get away, did you? It's a good thing you didn't. I would have missed you, Darkie!" 

Darkspot glared at her. "You're sick," he spat. "You've turned the Talons of Legend into cannibals, Raven! This is not why we formed the Talons!" 

"It's just the way of life, Darkspot," Ravenheart said. "We eat the lesser dragons who oppose us. If you had been paying attention, you would know this." 

"Lesser dragons?" Darkspot echoed. "Are you out of your mind? This is bad, Raven! And I can't be a part of a group that preys and eats other dragons! I will not be a part of this no more!" 

_You don't even need me,_ Darkspot thought at Ravenheart. _Not anymore. I enchant any dragon with the Talons of believe that I am not special, or memorable, or even that useful._

If his talons were free, he would have smacked himself in the face for that. He had just enchanted at least seventy dragons! He had just broken his one rule: Never, never, _never_ enchant another dragon! Especially that many of them! What had he been thinking?! 

But it all worked in his favor, despite his stupidity. "Right, drop him," Ravenheart said. 

"But—" Sparrow started. 

"I said _drop him_ ," Ravenheart snarled. "He can't fly. We can collect the body later." 

Sparrow shrugged, and then he dropped Darkspot, who began to plummet again. 

Fear shot through his body, his thoughts hurriedly begnning to weave to form a new spell, having never been in a situation like this before. Had he been in the right mindset, he wouldn't have been trying to think of any spells; he would have just let himself hit the ground and die. 

_I enchant myself to fall from the sky without the consquence of death! AHHHHHHHH—!_

Darkspot hit the trees, smashing into tree branches and tumbling to the ground. He broke his wrist, but he was alive when he hit the ground. 

What was he even doing? He'd already pushed it enchanting the scroll to tell him what kind of meat the mystery meat had been. One tiny spell a month, that was it. So why had he enchanted seventy dragons to believe he was useless? 

Darkspot got to his talons, hissing when he put pressure on his wrist. A long time ago, he might've been able to heal himself, but he'd casted a spell on himself to never be able to heal his own wounds, no matter what... the reason for it being that he hated the easy way, and healing himself was the easy way. 

Plus, never being able to fly again was probably the best punishment for helping create the evil of what was now the Talons of Legend. 

Darkspot looked around his surroundings. From the looks of things, he was probably somewhere in the borders between the Mud Kingdom and the Rainforest Kingdom. 

With a sigh, the NightWing animus picked a path and hobbled into the forest... into the unknown. 

♦ ♦ ♦ 

"Hello? Sir?" 

Darkspot groaned, throwing a ruined wing over his head. 

"Sir? Is everything alright? Do we need to get you a doctor?" 

Darkspot lifted his head, staring into the face of a red dragon with black spots and four wings. 

"Oh, hello!" the HiveWing said. "Are you okay?" 

"I'm fine." Darkspot looked the HiveWing up and down. The other dragon wore a pale blue scarf and had a pair of glasses perched on the bridge of his nose. His eyes were dark green. 

"Ha, where are my manners?" The four-winged dragon held out a talon. "My name is Ladybug. What might your name be, my good fellow?" 

"Darkspot." He shook the HiveWing's talon. Ladybug was a fitting name, as the Pantalan dragon did remind him of a ladybug. "How did I get here? Where am I?" 

"Well, my wife found you behind our shop," Ladybug replied. "You were unconscious, so we decided to bring you to our cozy little home! And yes, don't worry about it, you're still in Pyrrhia." The HiveWing tilted his head. "What were you doing back there, anyhow? You're all busted up like you've been in a fight!" 

Darkspot held out a wing. "These aren't recent wounds," he told Ladybug. "About a year and a half old now, I think. I don't want to talk about it. It's personal." 

"It's alright, I'm not forcing you to tell me!" The red dragon laughed. "But I would like to know why you were behind our shop." 

Darkspot rubbed his head. "Don't remember." 

Ladybug gave him a thoughtful look. 

"Is he up yet?" A purple SilkWing with blue eyes cradling a tiny, wingless dragonet to her chest entered the room. 

"He is! This gentleman is Darkspot," Ladybug told her as she slid up beside him. He turned his attention to Darkspot. "This lovely lady here is my wife, Hyacinth, and that is our daughter, Honeysuckle." 

"Honeybee," the SilkWing said. 

"We're still figuring out a name," Ladybug explained. 

The little dragonet had redish-pink scales and black spots around one eye, a obvious blend between both of her parents. Though which half she was more like was a little confusing to him. Her blue eyes were wide with curiosity and interest. 

"Well, welcome to our home, then," Hyacinth said. "Stay as long as you need, but try not to overstay your visit." 

Darkspot stayed for a while, and in that time, he found an odd friendship forming between him and the Pantalan family. 

He found himself able to reveal his animus magic to them. He proved it by taking a goblet and enchanting it with this spell: 

_I enchant this goblet, whenever someone pours any liquid into it and say any dragon's name, to show them exactly what that dragon is doing at that time until they empty the goblet._

He knew he didn't have to, but Darkspot found himself really liking the idea of the goblet. And around the time he had to leave, he decided it couldn't hurt to enchant one more thing for the couple's daughter (officially dubbed Honeyspot at this point). 

It was a thin silver chain necklace, enchanted to bring the wearer good luck and fortune. 

And Darkspot found he was happy with that. It really couldn't hurt to give someone a little kindness now and again, after all.

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for reading this installment of the Dawn of Truth series, and kudos to those who enjoyed!
> 
> Right, before people hate me for having an animus original character, I just want to say: I did my best trying not to make him seem overpowered. I gave Darkspot a ton of reasons why he hates using his magic so much, like how he wants to have the same amount of struggle as a dragon without animus powers - why he doesn't use his magic to make things easier for himself. Dog, he literally enchanted himself to never be able to _heal_ himself.
> 
> I think it's okay to consider Dawn of Truth to be an alternate universe. These stories may be a little bit wrong as soon as new Wings of Fire books come out (trusting I'm not out of the loop and have no idea if any new books are out right now).
> 
> This series is not over! Wings of Fire: Dawn of Truth will continue in _The Princess_!


End file.
